Like the first issue, you don’t need to know anything about the world of Mass Effect to be able to get into this story. But I’m sure it would have a deeper meaning if you knew the story and it’s mythos. You’d know how this builds upon it. As it is, not knowing anything about Mass Effect, this becomes a very good sci-fi story.

This issue adds layers to the conflict set up in the first issue. The humans and aliens found an ancient artifact and awakened it. This issue furthers that story and adds more to it.

The plot is pretty straight forward but the political manuveurings and mysteries bring more to the story, giving it more depth. The writing team does a good job of making us want to find out what is going on. The last page is a shocker and not what I was expecting at all. Again, it’s hard to tell if this would be a surprise to players of the game or not. But it almost doesn’t matter as the story is good enough on it’s own.

The art is pretty solid. There are some odd layout choices, especially in the scene with the air car. Showing their car at differnt spots over the page is meant to convey movement, I believe, but it doesn’t end up coming across that way. There are some slight perspective issues, the characters looking out of proportion for the angle the “camera” is set at.

Mass Effect: Evolution #2 receives
4 out of 5

Even without knowing anything about Mass Effect, this is a solid sci-fi story.